I haven't played since 2008. That's FOUR years in between games. I don't know why I keep coming back to this game...maybe it is just because it is so much fun, or maybe because it allows me to reminisce about the good old times. Twenty years have gone by since I opened that glorious box, full of blue and red plastic miniatures and the amazing physics-defying high-density foam board. I must have retaped that cardboard box so many times, that it started to look like I laquered it. At the height of my obsession I had a metric ton of half-painted teams from all sorts of races - my favourite being the snotlings! I have lost track of most of it. The result of ultimately growing older and needing the storage for other things like camping equipment and bicycles for my kids. Nonetheless, a well enjoyed hobby.

I remember a league that I was a part of - The Reij Indromida Football League it was called, or RIFL for short. Over the course of several years (I think it is even still running), we met in a friends basement every week to play. We had a weekly newspaper with standings, articles, team reviews and the like. I remember clearly watching "bad dice" get thrown mercilessly against the walls and how we would all gather around for the championship game. Daryl's infamous Red Army and Dean's Black Hand - local legends that struck fear into all of us. Of course, this was back in the days when Mighty Blow had a number next to it - and you didn't dare tangle with anything higher than Mighty Blow 2!

In retrospect, I miss the comradarie and the face to face personalities. The game was so much more than dice. It was fellowship and an excuse to put your mid-term paper aside for one more day. Fumbbl can't ever hope to replace that time and place, but it will be a lot of fun to try.